I believe in luck. I was born on Friday the 13th—most people consider that hellishly unlucky, but it’s always been a lucky day for me. My birth date could be the reason I have a thing about the number 13: I have 13 ear piercings, and on the days when I need the most luck I make sure I’m wearing jewelry in all of them. I also have a lucky necklace that I wear all the time, a couple of lucky bracelets that I wear when I need a boost, and a lucky coin that I keep in my wallet. I mostly think these items are lucky because the people who gave them to me are like my guardian angels, but I also think it’s OK to just decide that certain things are lucky, and I do it all the time. If I have a particularly awesome day while I’m wearing a certain shirt, dress, pair of earrings, or underwear, I tend to decide that those items are lucky, too.

We’re usually taught that luck is not within our control, but I absolutely maintain that you can create your own luck. I do that quite literally sometimes by making charm or mojo bags to tap into my strengths, something I learned from looking at a few different Wiccan and Pagan books. I sort of make up my Wiccan practice as I go along—I’ve always been interested in it, but I’m not necessarily practicing regularly—so it feels even more like I’m creating my own magic. My charm and mojo bags are filled with herbs that are supposed to help your creativity (laurel, valerian, lavender) and stones that are said to bring prosperity and luck (moonstone, adventurine, citrine, jade). I put these things in a yellow or gold bag (those colors are connected to creativity and prosperity), then I put that bag in a black bag (a color indicating neutrality and protection). I write a little blessing before I start—just some good thoughts I have about myself—and say it out loud as I assemble the bag. Sometimes I say the blessing again when I feel like my luck needs to be recharged. When my bag is finished, I sleep with it under my pillow, carry it with me when I feel like I really need luck, or keep it near my writing desk for the creative charge. Carrying my charm bags makes me feel stronger, and it’s a special kind of strong because I know I channeled energy from the best parts of me when I made them.

I was curious about other people’s lucky charms, and asked some of the Rookie staff what items brought them luck. —Stephanie

I loved reading everyone’s contribution to this article!
I, also, have always considered Friday the 13th a lucky day… my cousin was born on March the 13th so every now and then her birthday will inevitably fall on a Friday – she’s the greatest and strongest person I know, so how could it possibly be a bad/unlucky day …?!

My lucky charm that I carry around with me all the time is a stone my dad gave to me after it became clear I was suffering from social anxiety disorder. He’s not into spiritual things at all but in the shop he read the description attached to the stone that said it was helping with anxiety and decided to get it for me.

And on some days it’s just a particular song I declare to be my lucky charm to make me feel that I can achieve anything I want that day.

But I also like the idea of PPPP!

And Tavi, Stevie Nicks invited you and your family to a Fleetwood Mac concert AND gave you a necklace?! I’m dying, this is so cool!

My charm is a song: The Cure, Close to Me.
Whenever it comes on and it’s not of my volition — say in a shop, or over the radio, or the time my sister’s boyfriend brought me home a vinyl copy he found at the op shop — some big and usually happy change moves through my life.
And it’s also just a damn good song.

Tom Ford + Yves Saint Laurent?! Cindy, I am jealous to death! So lucky! I think my lucky outfit piece would have to be my Salvatore Ferragamo Vara’s I found at Brown Elephant here in Chicago. I always like to imagine I’m a nice but authoritative fashion editor when I wear them.http://rhinestonemoon.blogspot.com/

All the lucky things are so cool! I have this theory that there is a big pool of luck for me and when I feel like I need it I think to myself, “I’m going to need some luck today” and I draw some out. It always seems to work wierdly. I know its not really real, but what if it runs out! Can I get more in?

I was secretly in love from the time I was seventeen until I was nineteen. I didn’t mind the secret, in fact, I felt like it nourished my soul. I felt like I carried it around in my pocket like a secret diamond and that it made me a better person to love selflessly and so deeply. I don’t think you have to be in love with a particular person to have that nourishing feeling. You can be selflessly and secretly in love with plenty of things that give you a boost and make you more unique and deep.

I have a lot of family Edelweiss necklaces and the older the better. These are usually white flowers in a glass or plastic bubble surrounded by silver and on a silver chain. I’ve never had a gold one. Some of mine are Austrian and some are German. I like their oldness and how unusual they are. Some are so old that you can’t even tell that the contained object is a flower and some people ask me why I have a brown encased spider in my necklace.

I love the Stevie/Gloria business. I was Stevie Nicks for Halloween a few years in a row as a teen. Nobody at my school knew who I was but my teachers got it.

Lol – this reminds me of first grade, when I had a lucky sparkly purple sweater and a pair of lucky underpants. They worked fine until I wore them both at the same time and had an awful day. That was the end of that.

I can’t even handle the Stevie + Tavi awesomeness. I’ve been personally waiting for this to happen for a long time… like… both of the MODELS FOR MY LYFE in the same room… I’m going to vicariously cherish this moment forever.

Yoo-hoo! August’s theme is GIVE AND TAKE, and we’d like to take into consideration whatever submissions you have to give about that! (Even/especially if they’re as cheesy as we just were.) Send pitches to submission@rookiemag.com. ✴

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